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Indonesia Seeks Allies for Pay-for-Forests Plan

JAKARTA, Indonesia, Oct. 26 — Determined to lead the discussion on climate change among developing nations, the Indonesian government spent much of the past week recruiting countries to join it in pressing richer nations to provide incentives to reduce carbon emissions.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono made a direct plea on Wednesday at the start of a two-day gathering of 40 environment ministers near this capital, a precursor to the United Nations Climate Change Conference to be held in Bali in December.

The environment minister of Indonesia, Rachmat Witoelar, said earlier this month that he wanted rich countries to pay up to $20 a hectare, or 2.47 acres, to preserve its dwindling forests.

At the meeting this week, Indonesia began mobilizing countries like Brazil, Mexico, Congo, Cameroon, Costa Rica, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea, which with Indonesia contain most of the world’s rain forests.

Indonesia has been spearheading the discussion on climate change among developing nations since it offered the venue for the December conference, which aims to solidify a new global climate deal before the 1997 Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. Many world leaders are expected to join the tens of thousands attending the conference in Bali.

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“We can’t do this alone,” said Indonesia’s deputy environment minister, Masnellyarti Hilman. “Developed countries need to help us because they have the money, the financing and the technology. We need their help if we are going reduce emissions and not sacrifice our future development.”

But in its efforts to lead the debate, Indonesia has also opened up its own environmental record to scrutiny. A World Bank report released this year cited Indonesia as one of the top three emitters of greenhouse gases, mostly because of rampant cutting of its forests, persistent wildfires and cultivation of its carbon-rich peat bogs. Industrialization and mining are also major contributors to carbon emissions.